You never know what’s going to happen in college football. Suddenly, after a wild coaching carousel with big-time jobs open at LSU, Florida, Auburn, and Penn State, the Michigan job could come up a week after signing day.
That’s what happened on Wednesday when Michigan fired Sherrone Moore for cause. The move, while unexpected, makes it all the more important that Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft finally got a deal done with Matt Campbell after a drawn-out and at times embarrassing search for James Franklin’s replacement.
Matt Campbell would have been a top candidate for Michigan
Campbell had long been rumored for big-time Power Conference and even NFL jobs, but stayed at Iowa State for 10 years, waiting for the right opportunity to leave. The Penn State job, along with pending financial doom for the athletic department in Ames, was enough to finally spur the 46-year-old to action.
It’s obvious that Campbell wasn’t Kraft’s first target. The process dragged on well beyond a failed early signing period that netted Penn State just two 2026 signees, and was delayed by rumored interest in Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer and a fruitless flirtation with BYU head coach Kalani Sitakes.
Still, it was the right hire to make, and one that may not have been possible had Michigan moved on Moore earlier in the process.
Michigan is a more desirable job than Penn State. First, with the backing of Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, the Wolverine NIL warchest is robust and was enough to pry 2025 five-star QB Bryce Underwood away from a longstanding LSU commitment. Second, even prior to the $12 million payday that Ellison and other boosters bestowed upon Underwood, Michigan has proven capable of winning a national championship far more recent than Penn State (2023, compared to 1986).
So, despite the mess that Moore and Harbaugh before him made in Ann Arbor, faced with a choice between Michigan and Penn State, the Nittany Lions likely would have lost out again. Even now, a week into Campbell’s tenure in Happy Valley, prominent Michigan media members are floating the idea of the program making a run at Campbell.
A coach who spent 10 years at Iowa State despite constant interest from more prestigious programs isn’t about to bolt before ever coaching a game at Penn State, but if the timeline was sped up at Michigan, Penn State could have found itself in a disastrous situation. Instead, the Nittany Lions landed a coach that Michigan fans are suddenly envious of.